Karnataka Congress asks PM to reply to 40 percent commission charge

BENGALURU: Ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Bengaluru on Friday, the Congress launched a scathing attack on him by raising various issues, including the 40% commission allegation, against the BJP government in Karnataka.

KPCC president DK Shivakumar and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah addressed the media on Thursday. Shivakumar asked Modi to respond to the allegations made by contractors’ association president Kempanna on the 40% commission issue.

“Modi calls the Congress a ‘10% government’... he would have launched a probe against us. Now, even after one year and four months since Kempanna’s letter, why is he silent?”, he asked.

Siddaramaiah called Modi’s visit an election stunt.  On the hike in quota for SCs/STs, the Badami MLA urged Modi to bring it in the Schedule 9 of the Constitution to give it legal protection. He claimed credit for erecting Kanakadasa and Valmiki statues on the premises of Vidhana Soudha.

He said it was his government that had taken the initiative to name Bengaluru International Airport after Nadaprabhu Kempegowda besides celebrating his birth anniversary. “I set up Kanaka Gurupith in 2015-16 as CM. Former minister KS Eshwarappa had not even attended the foundation stone laying ceremony,” he added. The Congress is also likely to raise the issues of ‘Hindi imposition’, PSI recruitment scam, and pothole deaths on Bengaluru roads.